Baking pan for tilted cakes

ABSTRACT

A baking pan for baking a tilted cake for producing a whimsical or mad-hatter cake, the pan includes a rim defining a first plane and a tilted bottom defining a second plane, the rim and bottom being interconnected by a sidewall, the two planes intersect at an acute angle and a support for positioning the pan on an oven surface so that the first plane is parallel to the oven surface.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to baking pans for baking cakesand more specifically to a baking pan for baking tilted cakes which areused to construct multi-layer whimsical or mad hatter cakes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tilted cakes, sometimes referred to as whimsical cakes or mad hattercakes, are well-known in the cake and cake decorating industry. Suchcakes are generally constructed by baking a typical round cake havingthe desired diameter and height and after the cake has appropriatelycooled, preferably after freezing the cake to make it more solid, thecake is sliced at an angle to remove the top section thereof and thusprovide a tilted cake. Various additional round cakes of smallerdiameters are also baked frozen and also sliced in this matter toprovide a plurality of layers all having a tilt to them. Such layers arethen assembled one on top of the other typically by cutting a sectionfrom the bottom layer to provide a flat surface to receive the nexttilted cake layer and then inserting it in place. This process iscontinued until the cake is appropriately assembled. Thereafter, thecake is decorated in the manner desired to provide the desiredappearance.

An alternative method of providing a tilted cake to then be assembled insuch layers is to utilize a plurality of flat cakes of varying diametersand heights and then to provide a filling that will remain stiff andhold its form around the outer edge of the bottom layer and then placeadditional half rings on top of the first tapering off at the ends andbuilding the half rings to a desired height and then placing the nextlayer after filling in the thus formed reservoir with a desired fillingsuch as a cream or the like to support the top layer. This process isrepeated to provide the desired height and differences in diameters forthe desired appearance for the whimsical cake.

In all of these instances, it has been found necessary that the cake bevery cold even frozen so that it does not break during the cutting andassembling process. Obviously, all of this procedure, irrespective ofthe type that is utilized, is very time consuming and tedious thusmaking such cakes extremely expensive if they are manufactured by acommercial bakery. Alternatively, if they are manufactured by anindividual at home, an inordinate amount of time is taken to accomplishthe task. There therefore exists the need for providing the buildingblocks for making a tilted or whimsical or mad hatter cake whicheliminates the slicing and cutting process and enables more effectiveand efficient assembly of the various layers of the cake.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

A baking pan for baking a tilted cake which includes a pan having asidewall and an upper open rim defining a first plane, a lower enclosedbottom defining a second plane, the second plane is disposed at an anglerelative to the first plane thereby causing the side wall of the pan tobe shorter on one side as compared to the other, and a means forsupporting the pan in a baking oven at a position so that the firstplane remains parallel to the surface upon which the pan rests duringbaking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a baking pan for a tilted cakeconstructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the baking pan as illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the baking pan as illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a support member for receiving a panconstructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;and

FIG. 5 is a side view of the structure as illustrated in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now more specifically to FIGS. 1 thru 3, the baking pan 10constructed in accordance with the principles of the present inventionincludes a side wall 12, the upper portion of which terminates in anupper open rim 14 and a bottom wall 16. The sidewall is shorter at afirst side 22 and is longer at a second side 24 that is on an oppositeside of the baking pan 10 from the first side 22. The rim 14 defines afirst plane 18 and the bottom wall 16 defines a second plane 20. Theplane 20 is angularly disposed with respect to the plane 18 so that theside wall 12 of the pan 10 is substantially shorter at the first side 22as compared to the opposite second side 24. The planes 18 and 20intersect at an acute angle 21, which can vary depending on the slope ofthe plane 20 Through this construction, a cake which is baked bydepositing dough internally of the pan 10 will, when removed from thepan 10, have a tilted surface as defined by the plane 20. As a result,there would be no necessity for having to freeze the cake and then slicea portion thereof to provide the tilted section since such would havebeen provided by the configuration of the pan 10. It would be recognizedby those skilled in the art that a plurality of pans having varyingdiameters and heights could be utilized to thus produce a plurality oflayers for the whimsical or mad hatter cake with each of the layershaving a different diameter and a different tilt. It should also berecognized that even though an embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 through3 shows a circular pan that any particularly geometric configuration canbe utilized that is desired to form a whimsical cake. For example, a pancould be square in shape or oblong in shape and as above indicated mayhave varying dimensions to provide the sizes of the layers for thewhimsical cake.

As is illustrated more specifically in FIG. 2, when the pan 10 is placedwithin an oven to bake the cake, it will rest upon a surface 26 asschematically illustrated. It is important that the upper portion or rim14 of the pan be disposed within the oven so that the plane 18 issubstantially parallel with the surface 26. To accomplish this, sincethe bottom of the pan 16 is tilted at an angle to establish the plane20, there is provided a means, such as a stand, for causing the pan tobe disposed such that the first plane 18 remains substantially parallelto the surface 26. In accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention, there is provided a stand 28 which is affixed at its upperend 29 to the outwardly directed flange 30 on the rim 14 by appropriatefasteners such as rivets 32 and 34. A foot 36 is directed inwardly fromthe lower end of the stand 28 under the pan portion to support the panin the position as shown in FIG. 2 on the surface 26 where the firstplane 18 is parallel to the surface 26 and the bottom wall 16 issuspended above and out of contact with the surface 26. Obviously, thestand 28 may be affixed to the flange 30 in other ways than by therivets 32 and 34 such for example as by welding the same thereto oralternatively welding the arm 38 to the external surface of the wall 12.In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the foot 36 is widerthan the upper and lower ends of the stand 28. Also as shown in FIGS. Ito 3, the inner surface of the pan is continuous, smooth anduninterrupted, particularly in the transition between the side wall andthe bottom wall.

As an alternative structure to maintain the plane 18 substantiallyparallel to the oven surface 26, a pair of legs, one of which is shownby dotted lines 37 may be affixed to the outside bottom edge and spacedapart substantially equivalent from the center of the pan. The end 39 ofthe leg 37 would rest on the surface 26 and the end 41 of the bottom 16of the pan would rest on the surface 26. Thus, there would be providedthree spaced apart supports for the pan 10 to maintain it in the desiredposition during baking.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 4 and 5, the pan without thestand 28 may be placed upon a support member 40 which is a frameconstructed of a plurality of inter connected wire 43 or mesh to thusprovide a flat surface 42 which would rest upon the surface 26 of theoven. The support member also defines a slanted surface 45 for receivingthe bottom of the pan 10. The slanted surface 45 is at an angle withrespect to the oven surface 26 which is substantially the same as theangle of the second plane 20. The pan without the stand 28 would then beplaced so that the larger side 24 would rest against a lip 44 formed atthe bottom of the member 40 thus causing the upper surface forming theplane 18 to be disposed within the oven so that the plane 18 issubstantially parallel to the surface 26 within the cover. Thisstructure, obviously, provides two different pieces which are disposedwithin the oven to support the pan to produce the desired cake.

There has thus been disclosed a baking pan for producing a tilted cakewhich is simple, easy to utilize and produces a desired tilted cakewhile eliminating the intensive labor required to freeze and cut thecake to provide the desired layers for a whimsical or mad hatter typecake.

What is claimed is:
 1. A baking pan for baking a tilted cake comprising:a pan portion comprising a bottom wall and a sidewall, wherein thebottom wall is flat and continuous, wherein the sidewall extendsdirectly upward from the perimeter of the bottom wall and terminates inan open upper rim, wherein the sidewall comprises a first side locatedon an opposite side of the pan from a second side, the first side havinga height shorter than a height of the second side, wherein the openupper rim defines a first plane and the bottom wall defines a secondplane, and wherein the first and second planes intersect at an acuteangle; and a stand comprising an upper end, a lower end and a foot,wherein the upper end of the stand is affixed to the sidewall on a sameside as the first side, and wherein the foot extends from the lower endof the stand, and wherein the foot is configured to rest on a surfacethereby maintaining the first plane parallel to the surface andsuspending the bottom wall above and out of direct contact with thesurface.
 2. The baking pan of claim 1, wherein the stand is affixed tothe flange only on the same side as the first side.
 3. The baking pan ofclaim 1, wherein the upper end of the stand is affixed to the bottomside of the flange.
 4. The baking pan of claim 1, wherein the footextends partially under the pan.
 5. The baking pan of claim 1, whereinthe entire bottom wall perimeter is in contact with and encompassed bythe sidewall.
 6. The baking pan of claim 1, wherein both the first sideand the second side of the sidewall extend upwardly from the perimeterof a single continuous flat surface.
 7. The baking pan of claim 1,wherein a single continuous bottom wall defines the second plane.
 8. Thebaking pan of claim 1, wherein the stand suspends the pan portion aboveand out of direct contact with the surface.
 9. The baking pan of claim1, wherein the inner surface of the bottom wall is flat and continuous.10. The baking pan of claim 1, wherein foot is wider than the upper andlower ends of the stand.
 11. The baking pan of claim 1, comprising onestand configured to independently maintain the first plane parallel tothe surface and suspending the pan portion above and out of directcontact with the surface.
 12. A baking pan for baking a tilted cakecomprising: a pan portion comprising a bottom wall and a sidewall,wherein the bottom wall is flat and continuous, wherein the sidewallextends directly upward from the perimeter of the bottom wall andterminates in an open upper rim, wherein the sidewall comprises a firstside located on an opposite side of the pan from a second side, thefirst side having a height shorter than a height of the second side,wherein the open upper rim defines a first plane and the bottom walldefines a second plane, and wherein the first and second planesintersect at an acute angle; and a stand comprising an upper end, alower end and a foot, the stand being disposed externally of the panportion and adjacent to the first side, wherein the upper end of thestand is affixed to the sidewall on a same side as the first side, andwherein the foot is configured to rest on a surface thereby maintainingthe first plane parallel to the surface and suspending the bottom wallabove and out of direct contact with the surface.
 13. The baking pan ofclaim 12, wherein the open upper rim comprises a flange which comprisesa top side and a bottom side.
 14. The baking pan of claim 13, whereinthe flange defines the first plane.
 15. The baking pan of claim 13,wherein the upper end of the stand is affixed to the flange.
 16. Thebaking pan of claim 12, wherein the foot extends from the lower end ofthe stand under the pan portion.